(1.) A.S.No. 3156 of 1987 is preferred by the sole claimant under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 ('the Act' for short) against the judgment and decree dated 21-8-1987 of the learned Subordinate Judge at Peddapuram in O.P.No. 90 of 1984 claiming additional compensation for the trees in the land acquired and A.S.No. 959 of 1988 is the appeal preferred by the Referring Officer (Special Deputy Collector, L.A., Y.R.P.Unit No.3, Peddapuram) against the said judgment and decree questioning the enhancement of the compensation of Rs. 9,000/- per acre awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer to Rs. 25/- per Square Yard by the learned Subordinate Judge. A.S.No. 833 of 1988 is also similar appeal preferred by the same Referring Officer against the judgment and decree of the learned Subordinate Judge at Peddapuram in O.P.NO. 89 of 1984. The sole claimant in O.P.No. 89 of 1984 has not preferred any appeal. O.P.Nos. 89 and 90 of 1984 arise out of Award No. 7 of 1984 dated 29-2-1984, and they were tried together, with evidence taken in O.P.No. 89 of 1984, and were disposed of by a common judgment dated 21-8-1987. Therefore, these three appeals have been taken up by us together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.
(2.) The lands covered by these two O.Ps. were notified for acquisition under Section 4(1) of the Act published on 5-12-1983 for the purpose of excavation of Yeleru left main canal. The subject matter of O.P.No. 89 of 1984 is Acs. 5-72 Cents of dry land in S.Nos.44/lA(Ac. 0-02 Cents), 53/1 (Acs. 4-81 Cents) and 53/2 (Ac. 0-89 Cents) of C. Rayavaram, Hamlet of Yeleswaram village in Prathipadu Taluq. Possession of these lands was taken on 1-10-1983 dispensing with 5A enquiry and invoking Section 17 of the Act. At the time when possession was taken, there was horse-gram crop in three acres of that land and compensation was paid for the same. The subject matter of O.P. No. 90 of 1984 is Acs. 2-30 Cents of dry land in S.No. 45/5A of C. Rayavaram. Possession of this land was taken on 1-9-1983 and there were no crops in this land. The Land Acquisition Officer fixed the market value of these lands at Rs. 9,000/- per acre and the learned Subordinate Judge enhanced the market value to Rs. 25/- per Square Yard holding that the lands have potential value as house-sites. This is questioned by the Referring Officer.
(3.) Two witnesses were examined for the Referring Officer and Exs.A-1 to A-6 were marked - of the documents marked, only one relates to a sale deed and that is Ex. A-6, which is a photostat copy of the registration extract of sale deed (Document No. 1754 of 1983) dated 18-8-1983 under which an extent of 50 Cents of land in S.No. 1/3 of C. Rayavaram village was sold for Rs. 4,500/-. Neither the vendor nor anyone concerned with the sale deed were examined. On behalf of the claimants, R.Ws.l to 16 were examined and Exs.B-1 to B-10, C-1 and C-2, and X-1 and X-2 were marked. R.W. 1 and R.W. 2 are claimants in O.P.Nos. 89 and 90 of 1984 respectively. R.W. 3 was the Advocate Commissioner appointed in O.P.No. 90 of 1984-to note the physical features of the land under acquisition in that O.P. He visited that land on 21-9-1985 and submitted his report marked as Ex.C-1. Another Advocate was appointed as Commissioner for similar purpose in O.P.No. 89 of 1984 and he visited that land on 2-10-1985 and submitted his report marked as Ex.C-2. He was not examined because at the time of the trial he was hospitalised. R.W. 4 was the Village Karnam of Yeleswaram upto 1983. R.Ws. 5 and 6 were examined as residents of C. Rayavaram and Yeleswaram respectively and nothing turns on their evidence. R.Ws. 7 and 8 claim to have purchased 5 Cents and 10 Cents of land in S.No. 53 under unregistered agreements of sale dated 23-11-1981 and 8-2-1980 marked as Exs.X-1 and X-2 for Rs. 4,0007- and Rs. 8,750/- respectively from R.W. 1. R.W. 9 was working as Executive Officer of Yeleswaram Panchayat during 1976-81 and since July, 1985. R.W.10 was the scribe of the originals of Exs.B-2, B-3 B-4 and B-6 to B-9 sale deeds, which are registration extracts of sale deeds of various vacant sites in the village Yeleswaram. R.W.ll was the purchaser under Ex.B-6 sale deed. R.W.12, a resident of Yeleswaram, was Vice-President of Yeleswaram Panchayat. R.W.13 was the vendor of a small plot of land in Yeleswaram under the original of Ex.B-2 sale deed. R.W.14, a resident of Yeleswaram village, was a clerk of the vendor under the original of Ex.B-3 sale deed, who died, and therefore could not be examined. R.Ws. 15 and 16 were the attestors of the original of Ex.B-5 sale deed.